From Page to Stage & Script to Screen is Ovation Theatre Company's evening of short comedies devoted to theater and the movies. Ovation's spirited production provides a great time with a trio of satirically silly scripts.

        First up is “Hidden in this Picture” by Aaron Sorkin. This 45-minute spoof is an early work by the creator of The West Wing that rambles and repeats itself for about 10 minutes longer than it needs to. Still, director Taren Frazier gets funny, focused performances from his cast members as they tell the story of a first-time movie director (an obsessed Dan Cooley) trying to film an elaborate “real time” scene. It's mayhem when three cows wander into the shot.

        Providing solid support are Brian Robertson as the director's calm screenwriter; Gary Anaple as the stereotypical number-crunching studio executive; and director Mr. Frazier as a clueless production assistant.

        Following intermission, Ovation artistic director Joe Stollenwerk directs the best of the three plays, Christopher Durang's “For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls.” Mr. Durang is a master of razor sharp satire (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All To You, Beyond Therapy), and he doesn't disappoint with this hilarious send-up of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.

        Judy Malone turns in the performance of the night as a perfectly deadpan Amanda Wingvalley. She frets and primps in genteel overbearing mother mode, all the while making hysterically bitter comments that the real Amanda would never say.

        In a twist on Menagerie, we have hypochondriac son Lawrence (Mr. Stollenwerk) introduced to a “feminine caller” (Emily Blocher) by gay son and Williams parody Tom Wingvalley (Brian Cade).

        If you know Menagerie, you won't stop laughing. Even if you don't, the cast milks every bit of Mr. Durang's caustic wit to great effect.

        The final piece, David Ives' “Speed-the-Play,” is ultimately the least satisfying. Mr. Ives (All in the Timing) skewers the macho style of playwright David Mamet by compressing four of Mr. Mamet's plays (American Buffalo, Oleanna, Sexual Perversity in Chicago and Speed-the-Plow) into one frenzied 10-minute ride.

        Mr. Frazier directs and gets the most out of his ensemble: Rochelle Halter, Mr. Anaple, Mr. Cooley, Susan Hill, Mr. Robertson, and Joanna Tyler.

        But Mr. Ives has too much happening too quickly for the play to be more than amusing. And those unfamiliar with Mr. Mamet will miss much of what is going on.

        From Page to Stage & Script to Screen, through Saturday, Ovation Theatre Company, Aronoff Center, 241-7469.

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